


Masquerade

by Escalus



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Regret, Scerek Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 09:12:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12527960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Escalus/pseuds/Escalus
Summary: Derek and Scott have some shopping to do before Lydia's Halloween party





	Masquerade

Scott pulled up his jacket collar against the gusting wind and cold rain as he strode down the brownstone’s stairs. “Are you ready? Let’s do this.”

Derek nodded stoically, glanced back at the house in regret, and lowered himself into the driver’s seat of the sleek black car. Scott slid into the passenger seat right after him. Slowly, reluctantly, they pulled out of the parking space in front of the town house. Driving would be easier as the lunch hour traffic had died down. Boston’s streets could be confusing and difficult to maneuver.

Sound flooded the car, and Scott felt his hackles rise at it. He shot Derek a look from across the front seat. “What the hell is this?” 

Derek raised an eyebrow in response. “Music.”

“Is that what you’re calling it? Derek … _Derek_ … it’s country.” Scott was horrified.

“It’s Mickey Guyton. She’s pretty great.” Derek ignored the rest of Scott’s protest. In fact, he went farther than that, committing the gravest musical sin one possibly could -- he started humming along with it. 

“You’re a terrible person and you should feel bad.” Scott mock-whispered and stuck out his tongue. 

They drove down the twisting, rain-soaked streets of the big city. Boston had been built before the advent of modern city planning, and the layout could be confusing. Derek drove slowly and deliberately, watching for street signs and house numbers. Scott, pushing past Mickey’s thoughts on saying goodbye, watched him, warily. He was unsure of where Derek was going.

Scott looked down at the main console. “Why aren’t you using the GPS?”

“I can navigate a city without using the GPS.” Derek said exasperatedly. “Whole generations of people drove throughout this great country without using GPS.”

Scott waited for one breath, two breaths, three breaths. “You don’t know how to turn on the GPS, do you?” 

Derek ignored him. Minutes passed. He had pulled onto the main thoroughfare and they drove into the heart of Beantown. Every once in a while, Derek would crane his neck to check the street signs, but for the most part he played it cool even as it became evident they were lost. Finally, with an air of aggrieved reluctance, he answered “No.”

In Derek’s defense, it was a rental, and the classic Camaros he preferred did not have onboard GPS. Also in his defense, even working together, it took Scott and Derek ten minutes to get the GPS to work at all. They discovered that they had been driving in the precise opposite direction of where they needed to go.

Both Scott and Derek pretended not to notice it.

The pleasant voice of the GPS got them back on track, and when Scott returned to listening to the country music – not that he had any choice – he had to admit to himself that it wasn’t that bad. He also had to admit that Boston as a city felt old. Settled. Real. Occasionally, he glanced over to watch a faint frown play about on Derek’s features. Whatever was distressing him wasn’t too terrible, as Scott couldn’t smell anything.

Suddenly, Derek grumped out loud. “I don’t want to do this. It’s stupid. Why are we doing this?”

Scott held nothing but sympathy for him, but he had to be the better man. “We’re doing this because Lydia wants us to. And, frankly, she’s not asking for that much.”

“She’s asking grown men to dress up in costumes.” 

“It’s Halloween!” Scott protested, half-heartedly. “She wants everyone to dress up and everyone but us has something to dress up as, so we need to go rent costumes.” He sighed. “What’s embarrassing is that she knew we wouldn’t have been ready when everyone else has been working on theirs for weeks.”

“We may have had more important things to do,” Derek replied, still grumpy.

“Everyone’s been busy, and we knew about her party for just as long as they knew, so we don’t have a leg to stand on.” Scott smiled at him. “We’re just too manly to do stuff like shop or sew. You know, I’ve not been to a Halloween party since I was seventeen.” 

Scott’s smile slid off his face, and he turned to the window. He watched the cars passing him in the rain as his thoughts turned to Halloweens of the past. When was the last time he had gone to a party? To a Halloween party? Had it really been Danny’s party at Derek’s loft?

“What’s the matter?” Derek asked from the driver’s seat.

“Oh. Nothing. I’m fine.”

Even though Scott was looking out the window, he thought he could hear Derek’s eyebrows lift in scorn. “I’m sitting right next to you. That makes lying difficult.”

Scott looked at Derek and shrugged. “I’m ... It’s nothing.”

Derek watched him, turning his eyes from the road every few minutes. It got annoying Very annoying.

“I’m twenty-three.” Scott explained, hoping that would be enough to move on from the topic. He tried to think about other things then the fact this was his first Halloween party in six years. 

Derek chose not press him on it, but Scott knew Derek well enough to know that he hadn’t let it go at all. They didn’t have any more time to dance around the subject, however, because they pulled into the parking lot. 

The costume shop was impressive, Scott thought, though the only real costume shops he had seen were on television and the movies. It was well-lit with a very large selection and a helpful staff. The enormous variety of costumes was a little intimidating, but Lydia had given them the entire afternoon to find ones that they liked. 

“We’re going to be here all day,” Scott moaned. Derek didn’t say anything but the look on his face indicated agreement. Scott took advantage of that. “We should do you first. What do you want to go as?”

“I don’t.” Derek replied. 

“Yes, you do. You’re not completely allergic to fun.” Scott rejoined. “How about a pirate?”

“A … pirate.” 

Scott hustled over to the racks. “Yes. You’ve got the beard for it. We give you an eye-patch and a peg leg and a stuffed parrot on your shoulder.” He pointed out the costume.

“A parrot ... on my shoulder.”

Scott frowned. “Are you just going to repeat everything I say in that particular God-Scott-why-won’t-you-listen-to-me tone that you’ve used since sophomore year?”

“No.” Derek winked at him. 

“Good, ‘cause I don’t have to put up with it anymore.” Scott snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it! We’ll get you a costume that’s so bulky, you’ll have an excuse to take it off as soon as possible.” 

“Now, you’re thinking like an alpha,” Derek joked. 

Armed with new purpose, they dug through the racks, looking for the largest and bulkiest costume in Derek’s size. A half-hour sped by until they had settled on a knight’s costume. The armor wasn’t actually metal, but it was still shiny, chrome foil over cardboard. It came complete with a helmet, tabard, and a sword. Scott whistled as he looked at the price tag.

“It’s worth it,” nodded Derek. “There might be other costume parties I’d like to get out of wearing a costume as quickly as possible.” 

“Okay! Into the basket it goes.” Scott turned around and was about to make a joke about something else when he came across a woman’s costume. It was for the main character of that Disney movie where the mother got turned into a bear. He pushed it to the side, quickly. 

Derek must have noticed, for he came up behind him. “So now you. What’s Malia going to wear at the party? You can work off that.”

“Oh,” Scott said faintly. “Malia isn’t coming.” He shook his head and started looking at another costume, which if he had to be honest, he barely saw. 

They picked among the racks for five minutes before Scott suddenly said. “I need to get some air. I’ll be back in a few.”

The rain had stopped but the wind was bitterly cold. There was one of those park benches that encircled a tree. It would have been nice in the spring, but at now the leaves had all fallen off. Pedestrians moved up and down the street, barely giving Scott a look, though he still felt awkwardly exposed. For the first time, he wished he was a smoker. He could make it look like someone taking a break outdoors rather than a man sitting alone on a bench by the side of the street in the middle of the day, looking miserable.

Ten minutes after he came out, Derek appeared and sat down next to him. “You’re going to make me drag this out of you, aren’t you?”

“You can’t make me do anything, Derek.” He tried to keep his voice light. If he made it a joke, it wouldn’t have to be confronted.

“You know that’s not true. When I told you that I had plenty to teach you, my skill at never sharing my emotions was not one of the things I wanted you to learn.” Derek put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been upset ever since we were in the car, and you’re trying to hide it.”

“I’m twenty-three.” Scott repeated. Derek kept the hand on the shoulder, a quiet and endless support.

Scott continued, reluctantly. “Malia’s not going to be there tonight because she’s following a band. They’re in Texas, I think.” 

Derek cocked his head to one side. “Did you two break up?”

“No,” Scott said. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. She wanted to follow a band. She wanted to … I don’t know do real people things.”

“That’s good,” Derek said. “She should do ‘real people’ things.”

“She wanted me to go with her,” Scott said quietly. 

“And you didn’t want to go. That’s okay as well.” Derek said that with a smile. “You don’t …”

“No, it’s not I didn’t want to go. I don’t know if I wanted to go or not. I just couldn’t go.” Scott explained. “We didn’t fight, but she said she was going, and that was that.” He took a deep breath. “I’m twenty-three. I’ve not been to a Halloween party since I was seventeen. I’ve been a lot of places, but I couldn’t tell you much about the places I’ve been. I’ve not seen my mother in eighteen months. I’ve not done a lot of things.”

Derek let the silence hang between them. “You could’ve gone with her.” 

“No, I couldn’t. Remember last month in Alabama? They were going to kill that entire family, even that little girl. If we hadn’t been there, they would have died. I think that band was playing Pittsburgh at the time.” 

“You don’t have to be there every time something like that happens.”

“Yeah, I do. I don’t get to pick a fight and then place myself on the bench.” Scott shrugged Derek’s hand off. “And I can handle it. I’ll handle it. But … you know, sometimes, I wonder.”

“What it would be like not to be this.” Derek finished for him.

“Yes. I’m sure you …” Scott bit his lip. “I’m sorry, that was stupid to say.”

“It’s true. Do I ever dream about what my life would have been like without all the shit that happened to me? All the time. It’s not a bad thing to have regret. It’s not a bad thing to want something different.”

Scott shrugged. “What’s the point of daydreaming about what I’m never going to get. This isn’t going away. With the possible exception of your uncle, after a certain point, the dead aren’t going to come back. I don’t know if Malia will ever come back; there’s so much to enjoy out there in the world that doesn’t involve violence. I don’t know if Kira will ever be able to come back, or if she does, whether it will it be when I’m fifty. I don’t know if Isaac will ever come back from France. What the hell is he doing in France? I just know I can’t stop, what I’m doing. It’s too important.”

Derek reached out with his hand and grabbed Scott by the chin. It was overly familiar and pretty much against all the etiquette of alpha and beta, but it seemed that Derek didn’t care. “Look at me, Scott. You’re important. Even if you were a human being with bad asthma, studying for your vet’s license at your mom’s house, you’d still be important.” 

Scott blushed and jerked his chin out of Derek’s hands. “That’s nice but you don’t have ….”

“I mean it.” Derek was totally serious. “You’d be important. To your mother. To Stiles. To Alan. You’d still help people. You’d still be the kindest person I know. You’d still be important to me.” 

Scott laughed but it died when he saw that Derek was being serious. 

“You’re not just my alpha, Scott. You’re my friend. I haven’t had many of those since the fire.” Derek’s voice was a little thick. “You’re my brother, Scott. You always will be, even if we never saw each other again.”

Scott knew there was only one thing to say. “Yeah. Always.” He nodded, just once, eyes bright. 

Derek stood up and his eyebrows issued an invitation to resume the shopping trip. 

“Yeah, let’s go get my costume.” Scott started walking back in. 

“I think I have the answer,” Derek smiled. “It’ll be fun.”

Lydia Martin through the best parties in Beacon Hills, but that was too small a venue for her to be content. She intended to become the person that through the best parties in Boston as well. She was on her way. 

Her hair done up in tight curls, she strolled through the party, smiling at her friends. They were her friends. They were people she thought with. Something was wrong though; her alpha was not here. She frowned. Since she was dressed as the Queen of Hearts, people were worrying that they were going to start losing heads.

“Where are they?” She demanded. “They didn’t ditch, did they?” 

“Oh!” Stiles nearly dropped both of the drinks he was carrying. The King of Hearts costume was particularly bulky, especially the wig. But he gave it a good try; he always would for her. “They’re over there.” 

Lydia turned in the direction he indicate. “They came … as a horse.” 

“Yeah!” Stiles handed her the drink. “They’ve only spoken by neighing all night! It’s awesome.” 

Lydia laughed merrily. “I’m no longer mad!” She accepted the drink and gave him a peck on the cheek. “But who’s the front of the horse and who’s the back?” 

Stiles pouted for a moment and then smiled. “I don’t think it matters.”

Scott and Derek managed to confound the whole party until midnight, staying in character the whole time. No one ever did find out which part was which.


End file.
